Improvement in vehicles



)'Lmo im vehicles.

PATENTE JUN 27 1871 UNITED l STATES WILLIAM H. KEPPEL ANI) HENRYHUFFSEY, OF TIFFIN, OHIO.`

IMPROVEMENT IN VEHICLES.

Specification forming part'of Letters Patent No. 116,528, dated June 27,1871.

To all 'whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that we, WILLIAM H. KEPPEL and HENRY HUEEsEY, of Tiffin, inthe county of Seneca and State of Ohio, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Vehicles 5 and we do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description thereof.A

The nature of our invention consists in providing certain devices placedmainly back ofthe rear end Vof the ton gue'of a wagon or other likevehicle and4 in front of the fore axle, by which the forward end of thetongue is held in proper position, so that it shall not rest upon thenecks of the animals, or rise up while backing or holding back in goingdown hill, so that the harness will not slip forward on their necks; andalso by means of these devices the bearings of the tongue are made aselastic as may be desired.

The devices will be hereinafter more fully shown and described.

Figure l shows a plan of a Wagon embracing our improvements in itsconstruction; Fig. 2, a vertical central sectional view of the same;Fig. 3, a detail view of the tongue attachment or T- bar in perspective.

In the draWing,AA A A are the four Wheels; B, the reach g C, theiifth-wheelproper; J J, the extensions in front of the axle 5 H, theiron crossbar; it', the springs, which are fastened under the axlebed-platel. and extend forward over the bar H, and thence under thewooden cross-bar F .of the tongue T. J J are the extensions of the,fifth-wheel, which sustain the iron cross-bar H, which itself furnishesa prop for the springs t' 1J and holds down the ends of the branches ofthe or T-bar f has a peculiar form, which is shown in Fig. 3. Itsforward end is bolted to the tongue,

and' then in the rear of that point it is bolted. through the woodencross-bar F thence it extends back and bends down, as shown, and isformed into two branches, which' extend a certain distance to the rightand left at right angles to the main stem, and over the springs t' t',and then bends down abruptly, and thence extends back horizontally underand a little beyond the iron cross-bar H. These springs t' 'i are plainflat bars of suitable metal, and bent, as shown in Fig. 2, and the,branches of the T-barf cross over them about one inch forward of theiron cross-bar H.

It will be obvious, from this description, that, while the weight of thetongue rests upon the forward ends of the springs i t', the branches ofthe T-bar f ortongue attachment extending across and over the springsand under the iron cross-bar H, will prevent the tongue from beingunduly elevated or depressed, so that, whether the vehicle is beingbacked or drawn up hill, the tongue is always kept in a properadjustment, and the animals necks do not, therefore, sustain its weight.ln the use of our improvements, it is obvious that, in taking off orputting on the tongue, there is no sagging or twisting of the same whenone of the drawn bolts is taken out or put in 3' but it is held up bythe springs 'i t', and-the work of tak- 4 ing off or putting on is doneeasily, much more so thanit could be done without our improvements.

What we claim as our linvention is- The combination of the extensions JJ of the fifth-wheel C, the iron cross-bar H, the springs i i, and theT-bar f, when 'each is constructed and all arranged substantially in themanner and for the purposes described.

WILLIAM H. KEPPEL.

HENRY HUFFSEY. Witnesses:

J. K. HUDDEL, OTTo H. ZAHM..

